The stage was set at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City for the historic debut of hosts the Philippines in the FIVB Volleyball Men\u2019s World Championship, but it was Tunisia who left the court with reason to celebrate after claiming their first victory in the 2025 edition of the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Africans made use of their much larger international experience and dominated a highly motivated home team to triumph 3-0 (25-13, 25-17, 25-23) in the match that opened the 21st edition of the World Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The victory gave the Tunisians three points in Pool A and placed them one step closer to repeating what they did in 2022 and advancing to the elimination rounds. The Philippines didn\u2019t take any points from their first-ever World Championship match, but will have two more opportunities to earn them and fight to make it to the next round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Outside hitter Oussama Ben Romdhane led the Tunisian offense in the match, producing 17 points, with 15 kills and two blocks. Middle blocker Ahmed Kadhi, outside hitter Elyes Karamosli and opposite Ali Bongui contributed nine points each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re very happy to be here, in this amazing stadium and incredible atmosphere,\u201d Ben Romdhane said. \u201cWe knew that they would be very strong defensively and that they would serve well, so we just tried to be consistent throughout the match. It was a good start for us, and now we have two more matches against Egypt and Iran, and we need to win at least one of them to qualify.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Filipinos were able to witness a tremendous performance from their captain in their first World Championship match, as outside hitter Bryan Bagunas was the encounter\u2019s top scorer with 23 points (20 kills, two aces, one block). Fellow outside hitter Marck Espejo added nine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t really a good start for us, but it was a great game,\u201d Bagunas reflected. \u201cThis was our first time as part of the World Championship, and it was a great experience for us. We\u2019re very thankful for the support the fans have been giving us, and we count on them for our next two matches.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Africans dominated the game at the net, outscoring their Asian opponents in kills (44 to 36) and blocks (ten to three) \u2013 they also had way fewer errors (nine to 19). The Philippines had the advantage from the service line, firing five aces to Tunisia\u2019s two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The stage was set at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City for the historic debut<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,7],"tags":[73],"class_list":["post-3210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","category-newsbeat","tag-volleyball"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t